Lawyers representing the family of Nolan Wells announced they will cooperate with the local district attorney’s office to jointly examine the contents of a cellphone recovered after the teenager went missing during a July 4 boat outing near an island off the Mississippi coast. The family had retrieved the phone from one of Wells’ friends after using a location-tracking app to find it.
Prior to this agreement, the family had raised concerns that messages appeared to have been deleted from the phone before it was returned to them — just one of several troubling questions they have raised about the circumstances surrounding the teen’s death and the investigation that followed. On Wednesday, family attorneys met with District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath, primarily to discuss the investigative process. Attorney Ben Crump announced that McIlrath also pledged to bring the completed investigation before a grand jury.
Requests for comment sent to McIlrath’s office went unanswered.
“The hope is when this is presented to the grand jury, all relevant witnesses and evidence will be presented to them, so we can have a fair and impartial investigation into the death of Nolan Wells,” Crump said. “Our lived experiences tell us that we must question everything, everybody’s role, law enforcement’s role. That is the lived experience as Black people in America.”
Ronald Rychlak, a law professor at the University of Mississippi, noted that the majority of felony cases in Mississippi do go before a grand jury. He explained that a grand jury typically consists of 15 to 25 ordinary citizens who review the prosecutor’s evidence and determine whether sufficient grounds exist to issue an indictment.
Wells had been on the island with a group of friends on July 4, but did not leave with them when they departed around 3 p.m. He had been spending the weekend with friends before heading back to college for football training camp. Conflicting stories have emerged about whether he intended to remain on the island — located roughly 7 miles, or about 11.27 kilometers, off the Mississippi coast — to speak with a young woman, or whether he planned to leave with his friends.
His mother reported him missing just after midnight on July 5. Search and rescue crews took to the water and combed the area around the island the following day. Wells’ body was discovered in the water near Horn Island, off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, on July 6.
Widespread speculation and suspicion about the circumstances of his death have spread rapidly online, as many people reflect on the state’s history of racial tension and what it means to be a Black person in a predominantly white setting. Attorneys and family members have pointed out that, based on photos and videos from the July 4 gathering — which drew nearly 200 people to the island — Wells appeared to be one of very few Black individuals present.
The Congressional Black Caucus also voiced its concerns on Wednesday, joining growing calls for an independent investigation into Wells’ death.
Officials from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies moved quickly to state they did not believe foul play was involved. However, results from the official autopsy remain pending, and the investigation continues, according to officials.
Both the family’s legal team and investigators from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department have urged anyone who was on the island or who captured video footage there to come forward, as authorities work to piece together what happened in the moments before Wells disappeared and died.
Wells, who would have celebrated his 19th birthday next month, attended Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he played wide receiver for the football team. His family has pushed for a more thorough investigation, pointing out that he was a capable swimmer and questioning why his friends left the island without him while taking his keys and phone.
Family members located the phone using a tracking app and retrieved it from a friend’s home on the evening of July 4. The family noted that Wells was a frequent Snapchat user, yet the app showed no activity — no posts or messages — in the roughly 24 hours before they got the phone back.
Crump had previously stated his intention to bring in a digital forensics expert to determine whether deleted data could be recovered from the phone or from social media platforms. On Wednesday, he confirmed that effort will now proceed in coordination with the prosecutor’s office.
Rychlak, the law professor, said it is unusual for both law enforcement and a victim’s family to jointly inspect evidence. “Evidence is secured and not usually shared,” he said, while also noting that this kind of cooperation between the family and investigators could help speed up the overall investigation.
Wells’ death has deeply moved the Black community across the country. Actor and producer Tyler Perry is helping cover the costs of Wells’ funeral. Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is contributing to the cost of an independent autopsy, and filmmaker Spike Lee attended a press conference last week to show his support for the Wells family.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, spoke Wednesday about how she wants Monday’s funeral to be a joyful tribute to her son. “He would not want us to be sitting around crying and eating, and so what we’re gonna do is kind of have a party to celebrate him,” she said.
